Subjective and objective effects of anxiety and fatigue on social function in patients with enterostomy and their family caregivers

Background Many patients with enterostomy and their family caregivers experience severe anxiety and fatigue, which affects their participation in normal social activities and family life, resulting in impaired social function. The purpose of this study was to understand the status of social function of patients with enterostomy and their family caregivers;at the same time to analyze the subjective and objective effects of anxiety and fatigue on their social functions. Methods The self-made general information questionnaire, WHO Social Disability rating Scale, Miao Yu’s Multidimensional Fatigue Scale-20 and Zung et al. ’s Self-rating Anxiety Scale were used to investigate the general situation, social function, fatigue and anxiety of enterostomy patients and their family caregivers who came to the hospital for treatment from March 28, 2023 to November 30, 2023. SPSS27.0 was used to complete the statistical analysis of the data, and AMOS26.0 was used to establish the structural equation model to complete the subject and object effect analysis. Results A total of 260 pairs of enterostomy patients and their family caregivers were included in this study. The social function scores of enterostomy patients and their family caregivers were (8.80±3.44) and (6.44±3.60). The anxiety scores were (37.81±7.60) and (34.73±7.50). The fatigue scores were (63.35±12.80) and (51.21±12.38).The results of the subject-object effect analysis reported the subject effect: the anxiety of patients with enterostomy had a significant positive impact on the degree of social dysfunction (β = 0.154, P = 0.015); The fatigue of patients with enterostomy had a significant positive effect on the degree of social dysfunction (β = 0.132, P = 0.034). The anxiety of family caregivers had a significant positive effect on the degree of social dysfunction (β = 0.161, P = 0.023). The fatigue of family caregivers had a significant positive effect on the degree of social dysfunction (β = 0.201, P = 0.005). In terms of object effects: only the fatigue of family caregivers had a significant positive impact on the degree of social dysfunction of enterostomy patients (β = 0.224, P < 0.001), and other ways had no object effects. Conclusion Patients with enterostomy and their family caregivers have serious social function defects. Clinical medical staff should take care of them as a whole in order to better return to family and society after surgery.